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Jason’s Tips
8 Steps To Successful Email Marketing
8 Steps To Successful Email Marketing
Email marketing is a powerful tool when used right converting subscribers to paying customers over time. It allows you an opportunity to easily share what you have to offer in a manner in which the subscriber is receptive, but only when it is done correctly.
Let’s have a look at the 8 steps you should use to enjoy email marketing success.
Determine What Your Goal Is
For your email campaign to be a success you need to know what your actual goal is. This allows you to accurately target and measure the success of your goals along the way.
Here are some examples of goals to consider:
- Are you successful at alerting customers of new features and products you have to offer?
- DO you announce upcoming events in a timely manner and do people register for it?
- DO you send email to get subscribers to also subscribe to your blog and do you measure your conversion rate?
Who Are Your Emails From?
The name and email address that you send your email from needs to remain consistent on every single email you send.
That creates brand recognition, and you are less likely to land in spam.
Try to use a custom email address rather than Gmail e.g. YourName@YourBusinessName.com. It looks more professional too.
Carefully Craft Your Subject Line
Your email subject line needs to be a call to action for your subscriber.
They need to immediately know what action is required of them and why.
Remember you only have 45 characters that are visible so make sure that you use them wisely and your message does not get cut off.
Write The Email Body
Did you know that most people will read an email in under 10 seconds?
Therefore, it is important that you are presenting the most important part of your message at the top of the email.
This is also helpful because it shows as the snippet in the subscribers email program.
Also, make use of bullet points for skim readers.
Make Use Of The Email Signature
Your email signature should match the ‘from’ in the email. You should sign the email and include any other information you think the recipient should have such as your phone number, or perhaps your degree is important, or your web address.
Also include social media details if they are appropriate; the more people interact with you, the more likely they will change from a cold prospect into a customer.
Testing Your Email
It is important that you always test your email on a number of email platforms and on mobile devices, which make up a larger percentage of where email is read.
That way you can make sure that your email is coming through correctly on all platforms.
Most email autoresponders such as Active Campaign will allow you to check what they look like.
Also, sign up for a new campaign yourself with a test email address, to ensure that you receive any welcome emails and any tags are appropriately applied.
Send the Email
Always include the option to view as HTML or text.
This is it! It’s time to send out your email campaign and start to enjoy the benefits.
Don’t make emails too image heavy as they can take a long time to open.
It may be worth testing with long emails, or shorter emails which direct them to read the full article on your blog/website.
This leads onto the final step…
Measure
In order to know if your email campaign is successful you need to measure the click through rate and the unsubscribe rate.
This will help you determine what you need to change or what’s working.
All marketing is driven by the data, and email marketing is no exception.
4 Types Of Emails You Need To Use
If you are running online email marketing campaigns, chances are you are already using the popular newsletter format, which usually are sent out monthly or every couple of weeks.
The trouble is far too many of us stop right there and don’t use any other type of email campaign, and that’s a big mistake!
Let’s look at 4 types of email, other than newsletters, that you can use to connect with your subscribers.
Informational Emails
Informational emails are not very long and generally, they do not require any action by the subscriber.
They are simply there to convey a message and provide information to the recipient.
Examples of informational emails include ‘happy birthday’ messages, course ending reminders, or webinar reminders.
Educational Emails
Educational emails are very popular with recipients because they help to solve some type of problem or answer a question.
You can send educational emails any time you have new content, a popular blog post, or any other educational information that matches your subscribers.
This becomes even easier if you took the time to group your subscribers, because that way you can send the right content to the right people.
Lead Nurturing Emails
This type of email is one of the least used or when it is used it is often used wrongly. It takes a lot of time and effort to take a lead and move them through the entire sales cycle.
By using lead nurturing emails, you able to help that process occur faster and you don’t need to invest a lot of time. You can set up various nurturing campaigns with 7 or 8 nurturing emails in each and then you can simply schedule them to execute over a period of time.
Both 60 and 90 days are popular depending on what your product or service is. These should be short messages that are packed with content rich information and that try to get the lead to respond to your call to action that will lead them to your website.
Promotional Emails
This type of email, if not done right, can find you with a subscriber that will unsubscribe or simply trashing your message. Too many promotional emails and you will annoy your recipient.
The only time you should use this is if you have a new product or service, a special deal going on, or a special event coming up. You should not use this more than a couple of times a month.
What types of emails do you use in your email marketing campaigns? Now you have some new ideas so why not give them a try.
If you want to know more about nurturing you list, check out the featured resource below for a free Simple List Building report; download, read it and take action 😊
7 Areas Where You Need To Increase Self-Discipline
7 Areas Where You Need To Increase Self-Discipline
Building self-discipline is a process that’s never-ending. It doesn’t matter if you’re a monk who is meditating on a mountaintop or the CEO or a multinational corporation – you’ll always be encountering challenges when it comes to self-discipline.
The question you’ll need to ask yourself is – “Why am I trying to build self-discipline?”
You have to know the end goal. Clarity will allow you to focus on what matters.
Self-discipline doesn’t exist in isolation. It has to be applied. Where you apply it will be determined by your goals.
Below, you’ll find 7 things that most people need to exercise discipline with…
Your Routine
Having a daily routine is a MUST. If you live each day as it comes and in a haphazard manner, over time, your life will be a mess. It’s inevitable.
Once you have a plan for your life, you should have a daily routine that is conducive to your goals. For example, if you’re trying to lose weight, your day might start with a 30-minute workout session (daily).
This is part of your routine, and it will help you achieve your goal. Self-discipline here will mean not skipping workouts and striving to improve on your personal bests with each session.
Your Habits
Ultimately, your habits will either make you or break you. Self-discipline is all about breaking the bad habits and replacing them with good ones.
You should do this gradually and it’ll be easier to make progress. Trying to do too much too soon can be extremely difficult.
Your Diet
It goes without saying that you are what you eat. If you’re overweight or have health issues like diabetes or hypertension, it’s crucial to watch your diet and eat what’s right for you.
Self-discipline will mean staying on track and not giving in to temptations. Changing one’s diet is one of the most difficult tasks to complete, but when done, can totally transform your health and body.
Your Exercise Regimen
As mentioned earlier, exercising is one area where self-discipline is required. While you can lose weight with a clean diet, exercise is too important and beneficial for you to neglect.
Choose an activity you enjoy doing and get as much of it as you can. Ideally, you should exercise for 30 to 45 minutes daily. Even on days when you’re not feeling like it, self-discipline will mean going through the motions.
Deadlines
A self-disciplined person meets their deadlines. This means not procrastinating on your work and having a schedule to follow.
One interesting point to note is Parkinson’s Law which states that the “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”.
So, setting yourself tighter deadlines will mean increasing your speed and focus on the job at hand. Remember not to sacrifice quality for speed. You should be fast and still do a good job.
Commitments
Family commitments or commitments to other people in your life should be met too. Do not sacrifice your family time just to build a business, or by the time your business is successful, you may not have a family.
Self-discipline will mean giving the people in your life the attention and time required even if you feel driven to get back to work or think that your time could be put to better use.
Finding balance in life is almost impossible for long periods of time, but self-discipline will ensure that you not drop the ball in any one part of your life while focusing on your goals.
Time Management
The way you spend your time will define who you are. Self-discipline will ensure that you spend it wisely rather than frittering it away on trivial pursuits.
We live in an age where people spend hours on social media, sacrificing precious time that could have been spent in a much better way.
Like Charles Darwin said, “A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.”
So, exercise self-discipline and manage your time judiciously. Time flies, but you’re the pilot. Make sure your destination is worth the trip.
The 7 pointers are just some of the many that you should focus on when trying to discipline yourself. If you can manage these 7 well, your life will be fantastic and rewarding.
Do start working on them today.
Why Is Self-Discipline So Difficult?
You’re all fired up and want to transform your life for the better. You’re willing to eat clean, exercise hard, wake up early to hustle and grind – just so you can be the winner you want to be.
The motivational video you watched the previous night made you feel like anything is possible, and you just need to make the right changes.
So, you make the changes. You eat right, exercise hard, and do whatever you have to… only to give up one week later because it’s just too hard. The juice doesn’t seem worth the squeeze.
You feel like you’re destined to be average or even below average because you don’t have what it takes. But is this true?
Or are you just not aware of what it really takes to transform your life?
All too often, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. One may have the best intentions but lack the fortitude to keep going because he/she has a false perception of how tough the journey is.
You Need To Break Your Mould
Just like how the phoenix rises from the ashes, to become a ‘new you’ the old you has to die – and this is a painful process. It CANNOT be done overnight.
You’ll have to make gradual changes every day. Aiming for 1% improvement daily is more than enough to transform your life, even if it doesn’t seem like much.
You’re Fighting Yourself
When breaking the mould, it will feel like you’re fighting yourself – and you are. All change is met with resistance. If you’re broke, you’ll find that controlling your spending habits is a tough job.
If you’re overweight and trying to eat clean, you’ll have cravings for sugary foods and junk food. If you’re trying to be productive, you’ll constantly feel the urge to check your social media or binge watch Netflix shows.
You’re fighting yourself on every level because your old habits gave you enjoyment and pleasure. The new ones feel like work and your mind is trying to ‘protect you’, by making you do what’s easier for you even if it’s detrimental to your well-being in the long run.
Herein lies the contradiction – and it’s something you must be aware of on the journey towards becoming a more disciplined person. You’ll be battling yourself at every turn, but you will overcome the challenges and rise to greater heights.
Delayed Gratification Requires Patience
Self-discipline is intertwined with delayed gratification. If you’re avoiding the junk food today, it’s because you’re trying to achieve a fit and healthy body tomorrow.
If you’re working on your business while sacrificing time that could be spent on entertainment, you’re hoping to build wealth and financial freedom in future.
The common denominator to all these goals is that they take time to achieve. You’ll need to be disciplined for quite a while. It can take anywhere from 3 months to even a year to get a body that turns heads.
You’ll need patience to stay the course. This is extremely hard because the process is not fun, and you need to see progress to stay motivated.
When you’re impatient, it’ll feel like what you’re doing is not working. In reality, it is working. It just needs more time.
Motivation Fades
The author, Jim Rohn, once said, “Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”
This ties in closely with the previous point. Once the initial motivation to get started begins to fade, then the process will become a grind.
You’ll need to just focus on building the habits necessary to achieve your goals and aim for 85 to 95 percent compliance. Trying to achieve 100 percent compliance is difficult because slip-ups are inevitable every now and then.
The key is to correct yourself after an error and to keep going. So, being aware that the process of developing self-discipline is a relatively long and rigorous one will make you understand that you’re in this for the long haul.
It’s a marathon and not a sprint.
Your Environment Isn’t Helping
Sometimes, you’ll need to change your environment to help stay disciplined. If you’re trying to build your business during the weekends when you’re free, you might wish to avoid hanging out with friends who like to hit the clubs and party hard.
If you’re trying to lose weight, your kitchen will need to be free of unhealthy food and snacks, so you’re not tempted to binge eat.
Struggling to beat your social media addiction? You just might need to delete your social media apps on your phone and use a social media blocking app on your computer.
Making your environment more conducive to supporting your efforts will help ease the resistance you face when trying to build self-discipline.
Take note of the pointers here and remember that all the pain and effort will be worth it in the end. Self-discipline is the key ingredient to success.
As you can see, self-discipline is an important skill to master, and if you want to increase your power of self discipline then check out the featured resource below for a free detailed report; download, read it and take action 😊
The Power Of Tiny Habits
The Power Of Tiny Habits
Our habits start at a young age, and sometimes they are copied from our parents. For example, when you grow up with a parent who eats emotionally, it is possible that you may develop the same habit. As you move through life and have daily issues, you may reach for junk food or what you call comfort food that causes weight gain.
To change a habit that has been hard-wired into your brain, you must take tiny steps. Changing a habit overnight or in a few days is a daunting task. Making a big lifestyle change will put many people into fear.
They fear the work; they fear that they will fail, and with that, they decide not to start on any new habits. Tiny habits removes this fear of big change and the need to become a new person overnight.
Using tiny habits means that you also need to change your priorities. You may think your priority is to lose weight fast or stop procrastinating overnight. Tiny habits puts the spotlight on the priority of making the change fun and simple to do.
You will enjoy changing your habit instead of dreading each day and wondering how you will accomplish a big task.
Tiny habits also help remove other roadblocks to success, such as feeling guilty when trying to make a big lifestyle change, and it falls flat. We also try to change a big bad habit by setting very unrealistic goals. Those types of goals require the sort of willpower that most people do not possess, and they give up easily.
Tiny habits are easier to work with because they are so simple. In his book Atomic Habits, author James Clear states that if you make just a 1% change per day, you are stacking new habits that will stick. Motivation to create big changes is something that is difficult to create. You set the bar so low; it doesn’t require you to work on motivating yourself into action.
You just set the action and do it without much thought. For example, to lose weight, a tiny habit would be to have a fresh green apple added to whatever you eat for breakfast. If you have a piece of toast and coffee, you can add an apple to that. It is a simple and easy process that you build on.
To illustrate just how small a habit you need for weight loss, let’s look at the top ideas. We already talked about a green apple at breakfast, but there is so much more.
– Decrease the portions on your plate or switch to smaller plates.
– Chew your food slower. You can time yourself and chew a bite for 20 to 30 seconds or at least put the fork and knife down each time you have a bite in your mouth.
– Switch your snacks from sugar-based to fruit or vegetables.
– Drink sips of water constantly during your day. Rehydration in a simple form.
– Journal what you eat and why. You will then understand your eating motivation.
Any habit you want to change or start has to have a big why. Why do you want to do this, and what does it mean to you? Once you understand that, you pick a tiny habit and do it repeatedly. Make it fun to do the habit, which means you will keep working it in tiny steps.
We can use healthy eating as an example. You can buy a water bottle with a funny saying and always carry it with you. Try putting fruit out where you will see and arrange it in a fun pattern. If you have kids, involve them as much as you can to make it fun for you.
Using tiny habits will change your life for the better, and the road to change will be enjoyable rather than a big daunting task.
Top 10 Micro And Tracker Habits Apps
Creating habits takes thought and focus. As you work through your day, using an app will be a huge benefit to you.
There are many apps to consider, from micro habits, daily habits to the habit tracker.
Here is a list of the best apps for you to consider.
Habit Stacker
It doesn’t matter what habit you want to create. Habit stacker can help with self-confidence, fitness, or losing weight. This app allows you to build a morning or evening routine that will boost your success.
You start with a tiny habit and then stack new habits on top of each other. Think of it as building a scaleable wall brick by brick.
The habit stacker idea for success is to get up earlier than you did before and begin a habit. Once you complete the first one, see how many more you can stack one by one during your morning routine. This has a free version that allows you to work on two habits, and you can upgrade to building unlimited habits.
Productive Habit Tracker
This is an in-depth app that will ask you the right questions to help determine where you need to focus. It requires you to think about and answer how you sleep, which affects your ability to be motivated and productive.
You have goals, and the productive tracker will make sure your motivation matches your goals.
Being prompted will keep you on track, so be prepared for those types of notifications as you go through your day. Productive habit tracker has calendars, advice on health and productivity, with some challenges to keep you motivated for success.
Momentum Tracker
This habit tracker is for you if the idea of putting your results into an excel spreadsheet gets you excited.
You can easily view how well you are doing in creating and maintaining habits. Also exciting is the idea of having weekly targets you can set and achieve.
Momentum tracker is only for iPhone at this point in time.
Habit-21 Day Routine
Studies have shown it takes at least 21 days to permanently install a new habit that your brain recognizes and will work to make it happen.
This app is set up on that idea and is perfect for those who feel they can only create one new habit at a time. You will need to think long and hard about what habit is most suitable for you to start with.
Once you get that habit installed, you move to another 21 days to a new habit.
Habitify
This app is perfect for people with hectic careers. It notifies you of the habits and related items you need to do first, which is similar to do your most challenging task first thing in the morning.
It works with graphs and statistics to analyze your progress and keep you moving in the right direction.
Chains.CC
This app will appeal to people who like awards or progress reports. As you work on a habit and do not backtrack, a chain grows to keep you visually motivated.
If you are on the go a lot, you may also like this app because it works offline and online to perform consistently during your day.
Habit Hunter
Gamers will love habit hunter. It is a goal and habit app that turns your information into an RPG game.
As you do your goals and habits, you earn coins, weapons, and armor for your hero game.
Quirky, but still an effective app to use if gaming’s your thing.
Micro Habits
This app makes connections called chains that are linked to routines you are already doing.
You pick a micro habit and incorporate it into an already established routine.
Super Habit
This app will show you a full year of daily habits. It calculates your progress along the way as you use tiny habits to change your life.
Super Habit shows you your progress on a yearly calendar, your current and longest streak for each habit, as well as your yearly and all-time completion rates.
This is another IOS only app.
Habit Share
This app is for those who love accountability. It has a social network where you can share your habit tracking and progress.
You can motivate others while you get some love back and move into creating habits for a successful life.
Creating habits requires self-discipline and many people do lack in this area. If you want to gain more self-discipline, check out the featured resource below where you can get a free detailed report about the Power Of Self-Discipline; download, read it and take action 😊
Even More Ways To Start Your YouTube Channel The Right Way
Even More Ways To Start Your YouTube Channel The Right Way
This is the third post about starting a YouTube channel. If you haven’t seen the previous posts, you can read part one here, and part two here.
You really need to be leveraging YouTube if at all possible, because it’s the most popular video-streaming service boasting massive online traffic, and constant streaming services – and ultimately, it will maximize exposure and help your brand become recognized within your market.
By the way, if you do decide to take YouTube seriously, then check out the Video Marketing Insider for a suite of top-notch trainings and software from a video marketing expert.
So, let’s look at three more ways to get your YouTube channel more views and subscribers.
Create An Interesting Thumbnail
A thumbnail is the picture that you click on when you want to watch a video. It should clearly indicate what the video is about, even though your title and description should also reflect the topic of your video content.
One option you have is to choose a freeze-frame from the video that you’ve uploaded.
For example, if you’re a baking company who also sells products to bake with, you might upload a video on how to bake brownies.
You can choose a freeze-frame from the video that shows you mixing the batter. YouTube automatically generates a few that they think are good ones, so this is fairly easy to do.
But the more popular option is to create a custom thumbnail and then upload it, as you can incorporate something that may not be in the video but will entice people to click on it.
This is as simple as taking a picture and using a picture editing tool, such as Photoshop, or tools with a shorter learning curve such as Stencil or Snappa, to make it more appealing and relatable to your video.
For example, a beauty brand may want to use a custom thumbnail that features the products being used in the video hovering around a person’s face, using arrows to point where the products will be applied.
Or you can do a split-screen custom thumbnail. In the case of this beauty channel, they can use a before and after picture of what someone looks like with and without makeup, side by side.
Be sure to play around with different looks before deciding on your custom thumbnail, and make sure that it’s interesting enough that even you would click on it.
Brand Logos And Art
In addition to everything else, it’s important to have both a profile picture and channel art on your YouTube channel that accurately represents your company and reflects your brand message.
And if your business has accounts on other social media platforms, then your business profile picture and channel art should be the same. Again, it’s all about consistency!
Your profile picture and channel art are the very first things that people will see when they visit your channel. Whether you’re a one-person business or a company with thousands of employees, it’s important for brand recognition.
Your profile picture, for individual businesses, can be a profession-al picture of yourself, a mascot or other image that works with your brand. Simply click on the picture within your channel to up-load and edit.
Your channel art, however, should be a bit more brand specific.
You may want to consider hiring a graphic designer to create your logo or channel art. Or if your brand already has a logo, simply up-load and crop accordingly.
Keep in mind what colors your brand uses the most, as well. Then try and incorporate these colors into your videos as often as possible. For example, if your company’s logo is cobalt blue, then have videos with a splash of this color in it or use other graphic elements like a video bar or subscribe button that includes that theme.
When visitors go to your channel and see your cobalt blue logo above thumbnails with matching thumbnails, they’ll start to associate that color with your brand.
If you’ve spent some time analysing successful YouTube channels, chances are you’ve noticed how common it is for all thumbnails to look similar in terms of color or font styles used.
This helps to build a strong visual identity that helps your account look polished and professional, but also helps to establish a theme.
Sign Up For G-Suite
YouTube is owned by Google, and so your channel will automatically be linked with a Gmail account. Even if you already have one, it’s a good idea to create a separate account just for your business.
Look into investing in G Suite to have professional email addresses created. So rather than @gmail.com, your email will say @yourcompanyname.com. It’s a small step, but it helps promote a professional atmosphere for your channel and company overall.
Keep in mind that the name you choose for your new Google account should be the name of your brand.
The next few steps are self-explanatory, until you get to where it asks you to setup a YouTube brand account. This will allow you to designate editing positions.
Just head on over to YouTube, click on your profile icon in the up-per right hand corner, and scroll down to “My Channel.” Click on it but avoid clicking on “Create Channel.”
This is where you want to click “Use a business or other name,” down at the bottom. At this point you should be prompted to enter your Brand Account name.
Your Brand Account name can always be changed in the future, should you decide to do so. At this point you have successfully set up the foundation for your company channel.
Final Words
I hope that this collection of articles has given you the direction you need to start building your very own YouTube channel.
Start off by researching your market, spend some time watching videos from successful channels in your niche and then develop a content plan and schedule that you can stick to.
Once you get the hang of it, make it a point to regularly upload quality content based on the schedule you’ve chosen. Try not to change this! Your subscribers will rely on it and begin to log on expecting new content on those days.
Give viewers a reason to subscribe to your channel and keep coming back, and don’t forget to directly ask for it! A call to action within each video as well as channel description is important, but you should always encourage them to also turn on notifications so that they’re alerted whenever you upload fresh content.
Notifications cuts through the noise and helps your channel gain traction with repeat visits from subscribers.
And remember to upload in different video formats to keep it interesting and keep the viewer’s attention.
We wish you the best of luck in creating a quality channel and hope you’ve enjoyed this series!
If you want to know more about setting up your YouTube channel the right way, check out the featured resource below for an expanded version of this article covering all 11 tips in the series; download, read it and take action 🙂
Find A Catalyst That Will Motivate And Inspire You
Find A Catalyst That Will Motivate And Inspire You
A catalyst can be something that you experience – such as an event, or it can be words spoken by another person, or a book or a movie that causes you to alter your life in some way.
Some catalysts are simple – such as a man who gets fired because he’s always late. Losing the job can be a catalyst for that man to make sure he gets to his next job on time or find a job that gives him so much personal satisfaction, he never wants to let his company down.
The event of getting fired, often at an inopportune time, caused him to make a change in how he acts in life. Change is hard. It’s easier to do what you’ve always done because there’s comfort in familiarity.
Leaving your comfort zone thrusts you into new situations and forces you to deal with new ideas and new ways of handling various aspects of life. It’s scary and no one wants to go through it voluntarily.
If you were to take a survey of random strangers and ask them, “Are you happy with your life?” you would get more no answers than you would yes ones. There are a lot of people who aren’t happy with their lives.
They don’t like their personal life or their professional life – and they don’t like how they act sometimes. Yet day in and day out, they don’t do anything to change any of that.
Some people don’t know how to change it. They don’t understand how they can find a catalyst to motivate and inspire themselves toward the kind of life they want.
Sometimes a catalyst enters your life, and you’re too focused on the ordinary, that you miss it completely. You may have to train yourself to watch for opportunities if you want to raise yourself to a higher level of success and happiness.
Change Begins And Ends With You
If you take the time to look over your life at this moment, what would you think about it? Think about the people in your life – those who you’re in an intimate relationship with.
Is it everything you wanted it to be and hoped it could be? What about where you are financially in life? Does where you stand right now with your finances make you wish things were different?
Does it create a hunger within you to have more? To be wiser about your finances? What about your job? This is an area where a lot of people are absolutely miserable.
Yet, they stay in that job year after year getting older and even more miserable. If you dislike any area of your life because it simply isn’t satisfying, you but you stick with it anyway, it means that you’ve settled.
You’ve given up on the idea that there could be more – that you deserve more or that changing things is even worth the effort. If you dislike an area of your life now, but you don’t change anything about it, you will still dislike that area of your life three months, six months, or a year down the road.
You will have lost time and you will have missed the opportunity to make changes during that timeframe. If you want more out of life – if you feel that you should have more – and the unhappiness with your life sits like a rock in the pit of your stomach, then you need to take steps to make changes.
Physical signs like that are always indicators that something isn’t the way you want it to be – that it needs to be addressed. And ignoring these physical signs can lead to emotional complications as the stress of the matter weighs heavily on you.
Remaining where you are in a life you’re not happy with will lead to feelings of depression, sadness, and resignation. That hole inside of you that aches for something more, for something better will never be filled.
That’s not what you deserve. It’s not what anyone deserves. Life is not meant to be something that’s just endured. It’s meant to be lived with excitement because it’s an adventure if you decide that it is.
Roadblocks That Get In The Way Of Motivation
Though people are all different, we all have one thing in common – roadblocks that get in the way of what we really want from life. Roadblocks stop some people from ever making a change, but they motivate others to keep on going to find a way to what they want, regardless of the roadblock.
You might have one of these roadblocks or you might experience more than one of them. A major roadblock to change is fear. When things change, it ushers in differences that can make us afraid.
We’re afraid to leave behind the bad job for fear we won’t like the new one – fear that we might not fit in as well. Remember though, that one of the acronyms for fear is False Evidence Appearing Real.
Your fears are usually based on what if myths – and they almost always never come to pass. Don’t let fear cause you to sit on the sidelines of change. Another roadblock that gets in the way is a lack of knowledge.
It’s hard to make changes when you’re not sure exactly how to go about those changes. You might be branching out into an area that’s completely beyond your scope of knowledge at the present time.
Remember that what you don’t know can be learned. Use educational resources as your catalyst for change and success. Strive for new levels of insight that you previously didn’t have.
Thinking that you simply can’t add another thing to your already full life keeps many people stuck where they are. Making changes requires work. So many people see the effort as not worth the payoff – and that’s a mistake.
This belief is what keeps you rooted to that job that you hate, to those messy finances, or to that relationship that’s sucking the life right out of you. Learning better time management skills can be a catalyst for a better life as you clear out things that are a waste of time and make room for what offers the most benefits.
Being just comfortable enough where you are can be a roadblock to motivate you to change. You’re not 100% happy, but you’re “happy enough.” All this means is that you settled for a life that keeps you locked in your comfort zone.
You’re trading a full life for one that’s half empty – because if you’re not 100% satisfied, then something is missing. That something may be the very thing that you always wanted, but because you were “happy enough,” you’ll never reach it.
Visualization can be a catalyst for the changes you need to make. Picture the next level of success in every area of your life – finances, career satisfaction, relationships, health – everything that matters most to you.
Focus on how it could be improved and then make a game plan to get you there. If you block out those thoughts in an effort to stay content, you’ll never know what you could have made of your life if you’d give it a chance.
Wanting everything to be perfect is a huge roadblock to motivation. It’s here where people stall out. They want the new situation to be perfect before they attempt any changes.
They want the new job to have everything in place. They don’t want to take the chance that they’ll make a switch and find it’s not what they wanted. These are people who wait for the “perfect” relationship before getting into one.
Perfectionism is the killer of change because what you see in your mind as perfection doesn’t translate that way in life. That’s because there are no perfect scenarios in a life that’s lived to the fullest.
There are experiences to encounter – and not one of them will be perfect. That’s okay. Perfectionism kills progress. You don’t want to be sitting on the sidelines waiting to get into the game of life.
The number one roadblock that keeps too many people from letting a catalyst be their motivation is the fear of failure. They falsely believe that they haven’t failed yet because they haven’t even tried – so they’re safe.
But whether they realize it or not, they have failed. They’re choosing to stay stagnant in a lesser life than what they dreamed of. That, in itself, is a form of failure.
Another roadblock happens when people wait for change rather than seeking change. They wait for the perfect joint venture partner to come to them instead of seeking one out, because that requires putting themselves on the line.
They wait to see if the person they’re in a relationship with is going to treat them better, rather than speaking up about what they want and deserve. They avoid tough situations and tough conversations because they’re waiting for everything to work out on its own.
Change isn’t something that happens on a whim. It’s something that you make happen. You must find the motivation within yourself to make that change. And it’s uncomfortable at first.
That’s okay. Take that sign of discomfort as a compliment. It’s proving to you that you’re taking action and bettering your life, even in the face of fear or uneasiness.
Your Mind Can Be A Catalyst
You get the life that you think you deserve. Your mind or your thought patterns lead you to make changes – to take action that alters the life you currently have.
What usually happens when someone’s mind leads them to take action is they become so upset with their current situation, they think leaving it where it’s at is no longer an option.
Their emotions will often reach a point that they must make a change. This drive can often start out backed by an emotion. For example, if someone is in a relationship with a person who didn’t treat them that well, they’ll often stick with the relationship until a catalyst fueled by emotion causes a change.
One emotion could be anger. If the person you’re in a relationship with is unfaithful, it’s often anger over the cheating that drives the catalyst – even when the prior bad behavior didn’t induce a change.
Your subconscious knows what you truly want. What happens is this true desire becomes buried deep under what we’re willing to settle for. This is why so many people aren’t living a life full of passion.
You can tell if you’re living a life full of passion by asking yourself this question. Do I love getting out of bed in the morning? If you’re not excited about what you get to do when you get out of bed, that’s a warning sign that you need to find your catalyst.
Whatever it is that motivates you is what will drive you to wake up, ready to start and excel throughout your day. It will drive you to keep going in the face of obstacles.
You’ll continue on – even if you’re the only one who believes in you, or your idea or your change. That’s why it’s vital to your success – to your ability to thrive – that you get in a business that you have a strong emotional attachment to – something you are proud of and believe in strongly.
Face The Hard Truth About What’s Keeping You Stuck
Did you ever hear of someone who had a terrible health scare because they made bad choices in life that led to the issue? It shook them up – and for awhile, they strictly followed the doctor’s orders.
They ate right. They exercised. They got the amount of sleep that they needed. They quit smoking. They quit drinking. Yet before several months were out, they slipped right back into their old habits.
The catalyst, which was the health scare, came face to face with personal responsibility – and lost. The hard truth is that for your catalyst to motivate you, you’re going to have to accept personal responsibility.
The choices that you make in life are your choices. You made them because you thought they were the best option at the time. You might have received bad advice that led you to a decision – but in the end, you were the one that made that choice.
You must accept personal responsibility for what you want to see changed in your life before it can change. People who place the blame on others for their lot in life don’t ever reach a place where they’re truly happy – regardless of the changes.
That’s because they see life as happening to them rather than them making life happen. Accept the responsibility for your mistakes, for your poor choices, for that awful job you shouldn’t have taken, or for that relationship that was a mess from the start that you wasted too much time on.
Once you accept it, you can move on. You can free yourself to finally accept the catalyst for change. Don’t let where you were be a stone around your neck that anchors you to the place where you currently are.
Let the mistakes you made in the past become part of your motivation – part of your growing experience. While growth is hard, all good things happen with the evolution to a different place in life.
5 Ways You Can Find Your Catalyst
Knowing that you want your life to change requires that you take stock of your life. It means that you must examine every area and look at what’s not been working to make you feel the inner satisfaction that you’d like to have.
The first way that you can find your catalyst is to understand the things in your life that matter to you. Your catalyst for motivation won’t be the same as someone else’s.
While what matters to one person may be an expensive house, that might not matter to you. Your priority might be financial security for your retirement, or more time to spend with your loved ones.
If having time to do what you want to do with creative work is what matters to you, then your catalyst will be whatever action gives you the chance to free your inner artist.
This may be something as simple as cutting back on hours with work or finding a different job. It might be the catalyst of taking an art or a writing class. Whatever it is should be something that you truly desire – something that you feel your life would be lacking if you didn’t have it.
The second way is to accept that you’re going to have to change things to get what matters to you. Many people are willing to acknowledge what matters to them, but then they balk at the change.
You won’t get what matters to you without change. It’s like losing weight. You can’t shed pounds if you stay sedentary, eating copious amounts of calories. You must be mindful of your movement and intake.
The third way to find your catalyst is to give it the opportunity to happen. For example, if you want to start your own business, but your personal and professional life doesn’t leave you with room to learn about business development or to increase your talents, then something has to give.
You must make room to let the change in. Maybe that means spending a little time after work on the weekdays or on the weekends to educate yourself. It’s a temporary sacrifice for a long-term benefit.
The fourth way to find your catalyst is to make it concrete. Write it down. Share it with others. Find a mentor. Don’t allow this change you want to remain nothing more than a desire.
By naming it, you’re taking a step toward making it your future reality. Claim what it is that you want for your life. Then make a formidable plan to go after it, step-by-step.
The fifth way is to not let the size of the change throw you off your goal. Some changes that people want to make really are pretty big. Changes like moving from your home to live in another country because it’s what you’ve always wanted is a huge change.
You wouldn’t want to pack up overnight and head out the next morning. You can’t throw away personal responsibility when a catalyst happens. What you must do is focus on the things you need to do to reach that change sensibly.
If your goal is moving to another country, you would want to find a place to live and secure a way to support yourself financially before taking the leap. Those are action steps that you can take that lead to the big change.
Small change is what equals big change, and it gets you closer to where you want to be in life. Think about how often you’ve just accepted your fate – your lot in life.
Have you ever made an action plan to get to a better place? To have more peaceful relationships by setting boundaries. To feel the thrill of waking up each morning, ready to lead a niche that excites you?
If you’ve been watching time pass by, waiting for a bolt of lightening, consider this day your wake up call. It’s time to embrace every catalyst you encounter so that years down the road, you’re not still stuck in the mud wondering why life passed you by.
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